Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed a huge rally at Buddha Park in Kanpur. The rally had assumed much importance as it was Modi’s first rally in Uttar Pradesh after being named BJP’s prime ministerial candidate,ahead of the 2014 general elections.

Modi began his speech addressing the gathering by saying “the crowd has won me over” and that their “sacrifices will not go in vain”,hailing the presence of people in huge number despite scorching heat.

While the sea of people continued their wave of support by continuous chants of “Modi! Modi! Modi!”,the leader hit out at the Congress,saying that they had “achieved mastery in making false promises” and that they come up with new slogans in every election.

Modi also launched a scathing attack directed at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi,raking up the Gandhi scion’s remark on poverty being “a state of mind”. Terming Rahul as a ‘Yuvraaj’,Modi said,”People who are born with a silver spoon do not understand what poverty means and the pain of poor people.”

He said,We have lived poverty and have known the pain of the poor. When someone makes fun of poor people,I feel the pain because I spent my childhood in poverty  He said the government is for the poor and needy and is not meant to be pocketed by the rich and dishonest.

Modi further raised the issue of inflation and said the UPA government has been unable to contain it and have failed to bring down the prices in the country.

He egged on the crowd by asking them if they should care about a government that is unable to care for their own people. “Congress’ arrogance is on seventh heaven,they do not want to listen to the people,” Modi said.

Modi said that while Kanpur fought for Independence in 1857,today they are fighting for good governance. Another revolution must begin from Kanpur to remove the UPA and get ‘suraaj’, he said,adding that he wouldn’t let “vote-bank politics” destroy the country.

Modi continued by saying that the Congress-SP-BSP trio has ruined the state of Uttar Pradesh,and that “UPA is committing the sin of misleading the people of this country”.

The Gujarat Chief Minister touched upon the ongoing coal block scam and said that “the pollution in Kanpur is that of coal remains in Delhi” and that it’s not just the coal files that are missing but the entire government itself.

Modi’s address was interspersed with cheers and chants from the vast gathering at Buddha Park,to which the leader reacted with a smile.